This is a live shot, btw. Yep, that’s Kinless. I’ll be waiting for you, Mr. T. Right behind the rhino.

Greenclaw took the name Catmando. Like Commando, like Catman do, or Cat, man, do!, like the exotic Kathmandu to give a nod to Nepal and the snow covered Himalayas. And that’s all I’ll say about that. Oh, and “Yeehaw!” (Yeah, yeah. I didn’t need one, but when one came in the mail, I was pretty happy. Now if they let me regenerate mana…)

And imagine my shock, chagrin, and pleasure, in seeing one of the first quests replace the staff I got in the Ring of Blood in Nagrand. The best blue staff before 70 and instances, and I just kill 10 bad things and get a better weapon. This is a godsend for casuals. Epic armor, once I hit 70, and green weapons. So begins a new expansion.

As for the Death Knights. Cool. And definitely something to let die down a bit once it goes live before starting my own real one. You can’t have a feel for the fluidity of the mechanics when 50 folks are doing the same thing you are within 50′ of you. However, first impression: Bring the Lich King, and everything else, with him and quickly! And I’ll have to reserve a block of bank space to keep the starter DK outfit it is that cool looking.

One thing though.

Consider that Druids can only be played by Night Elves on the Alliance side. Nobody has a problem with that. That’s the Lore. Okay, the Taurens too. They aren’t bad guys at heart, and they’re Earthy, so sure, why not, and the Horde get Druids too that way.

Do you, in all honesty, really think Gnomes should be able to play Druids? Or Draenei play them? Or Forsaken? Because if they could, they would. I think most would support, and understand the reasoning behind it, the fact that Druids are playable by two select races. Because it keeps with the Lore and if you lose the lore then you’re just playing a spreadsheet, no?

Night Elves and Tauren, and each Faction has a Druid. Blood Elves and Draenei, and the expansion brought Paladins to each Faction. Nobody is pushing to see Orc Paladins, are they? There aren’t mass protests down in Irvine, at Blizz HQ, demanding Forsaken Paladins. Of course not. The Lore doesn’t really support Orc Paladins.

So why, why, good grief why, do we have to see Gnome Death Knights??? When the Scourge was coursing through Azeroth, it was pretty much the Humans who took the brunt of it. Burning Legion was a more “coalition” thing. But when you see “Scourge” you think Humans, Forsaken, and the lands of the Eastern Kingdoms.

You’ve got to have Death Knights in both factions. I think Blizzard decided it’s too hard to balance encounters for two vastly different game mechanics, i.e. Shamans or Paladins, and never, ever, both. And that’s cool. You got Druids in both camps, allowing both camps to get their buffs. And Paladin auras were mobile versions of the fixed-in-place Shaman totems. Similar in effect, just different in mobility. And aura’s never went away, blessings lasted five minutes, and totems last like two tops. Paladins > Shamans, but each had a benefit to the raid.

Back to the Death Knights. Both Factions have to have them. But no sense in taking Lore out back, after getting him drunk, and beating the living daylights out of him, making him regret ever going out on a Friday night in the first place, ruining his shoes and clothes, wishing he was dead, and wishing he’d never been born. Don’t make Lore regret a world where Gnomes become Death Knights. That’s all I’m saying.

Maybe you’ll argue that the Lich King would have taken all sentients. He didn’t discriminate. So show me the Furbolg, and Naga Death Knights. Or did the Lich King simply go after player types?

Forsaken and Humans should be the only Death Knights.

I could also go with Night Elf and Blood Elf Death Knights as well. The Lore includes the Lady Sylvanas afterall. She wasn’t a Death Knight, but death becomes her.

4 Responses to I pity the fool. Gear. Druids and Death Knights, it’s not too late.

Blizzard didn’t want to make anybody mad. Since they initially promoted the death knight as a “hero class” they got everybody and their brother wanting to play one. And since so many people play gnomes, they didn’t want to feel left out.

I think the whole way the death knight was developed and introduced was dumb – it should have just been added as a new class with normal class restrictions. Instead they tried to make it more “epic” which imho they failed at.

Also: Gnome Deathknights are bloody terrifying. There is nothing cute about them.
Picture a person who was mocked their entire life for being short, and then died horrifically, rotted for a week, and then was resurrected by Satan.
Immediately following that, this person was given a blank check to go ahead and kill anything he felt like.

I totally concur about the Gnomes, but sadly we’re stuck with them as Death Knights… 😦

I would do the Forsaken Paladin protest, but it’s not quite that important to me. Since there’s only Blood Elf as a Horde option, I’ll just have to stay paladin-less (can’t live with the BE cast animations and general manga feel).